Altitude

Several things motivated me to see this film, not the least of which is that I've spent quite a number of hours flying about in small private planes, so I was intrigued to see how Hollywood would portray this. Another motivation was to see Jessica Lowndes do her character thing as a pilot, and also the surprisingly well done acting on the part of Jake Weary, who plays the part of the quintessential loud mouth, hyper emotional, annoying beer guzzling jerk character.

As the plot unfolds into the film, however, the whole story suddenly takes a completely bizarre left turn, which theoretically could have been an interesting "outside the box" twist, maybe . . . but here, it just came off as being weird and silly.

It's kind of sad, actually, in that the seeds of a potentially good film were firmly planted in the first half, but then it just sagged into an absurd side track which basically ruined the whole viewing experience, which by then seemed like a complete waste of time.

However, at the very end of the film, as in just the last couple of moments, the story does suddenly present a very compelling and thought provoking ending, so I'll give the writers some credit where it's due.

Sorry to say, this film is in the 5 - 6 category, and that's being generous, but the acting was well done, so I don't want to tarnish their efforts by being stuck with a flimsy, clumsily thrown together screenplay and script.

OK I have a few things to say about this movie. But to answer the most important questions:

1. Was this a good movie (good meaning quality)? No, this was in no way a good movie.

2. Did I enjoy this movie? Yes, absolutely, I enjoyed every horrible minute of it. Although maybe not the way it was intended. There were some parts that I laughed out loud that weren't meant to be funny.

I'm seeing on the forums this movie compared to Frozen. I have no idea why. The only thing these movies have in common is that the people are high up in the air. Meaning a fall to the ground could be damaging or fatal. Even the heights aren't comparable though. Other than that I see no real similarities.

About this movie specifically. Horrible acting, totally unbelievable, predictable from the first 5 minutes. But I enjoyed it for the same reason I enjoyed other crappy horror movies. And I think those reason are individual. But, I WAS able to, in a couple of scenes, feel the hopelessness of being stuck in a tiny plane up in the air with no possible idea of how to fix it. I would much rather be stuck on the ski lift.

So, if you like crappy horror movies and you can suspend pretty much all reality when you watch a movie you might enjoy, if not, don't bother. You will hate it and people like me who enjoyed it don't want to hear about how bad you thought it was. We know, we liked it anyway.

There have been many films, TV episodes which have taken place within a confined area, and the tension can become excruciating.

Lifeboat, Midnight (Doctor Who), are just a couple.

Altitude - the story of a half dozen teens trapped in a little plane - is NOT one.

The director who made this - Kaare Andrews - has made a 'teen' horror film that doesn't try hard to be any better than of the films it desperately rips off - the FINAL DESTINATION films, are just one franchise, which comes to mind.

The 'acting' horrendous. The 'plot?' Cheesecloth holds together better.

The 'technical' dialogue, spouted by 'pilot' Ms. Loundes, is akin to hearing a monkey explain quantum mechanics - and, just as believable.

This is one of those films, in which the 'director' seems SO hard to demonstrate his skills, and, has none, to begin with.

Bluish-green tinted movie? Seen it. Actors' eyes (annoyingly) colorized? Yawn - ENOUGH!

I kept praying this nightmare would end - and, by that, I mean 'crash' end. You do not care about ANYONE. It seems they all got cast by meeting Mr. Andrews, who 'promised' they'd 'star in' his big, Hollywood' movie.

"You're not afraid to fly, are you?"

This was like a mediocre, modern episode of the Twilight Zone. One updated with some of the most annoying and unlikeable characters I've ever seen in a movie. Yet, with all the (hilarious) overacting, all the times I wanted these stupid people to just die, already, and the fact that the movie kept getting more and more ridiculous until it reached an almost mythical plateau of absurdity, I didn't hate it.

Altitude begins with a group of young adults loading up into a small plane for a trip to a Coldplay concert. We get introduced to the pilot, who's a young woman with a tragedy in her past, as well as her 4 companions. The first act plays out a bit like a slasher movie, as we meet the various characters and the predictably complicated relationships between the three guys and two girls. Things quickly start going wrong with the plane once it gets into the air. You could probably come up with a pretty fun drinking game based around guessing what incredibly important part of the plane would fail next. As the condition of the plane deteriorates, so does the atmosphere inside the cabin. Jealousy, conflict (along with a storm that clearly could have been avoided), that sort of thing. And then a supernatural element is introduced, which almost makes the latter half of the movie seem like something completely different from what came before. Just as silly, but less of a (hilarious) thriller/slasher and more of a (still hilarious) sci-fi/horror flick. 

In the final thirty minutes, or so, the absurdity spikes to incredible levels. I was somewhat transfixed by just waiting to see how ridiculous the plot would get before it ended. And the end did indeed exceed my expectations, by being perhaps the most incredulous conclusion I've seen since The Life of David Gale. 

I wouldn't describe Altitude as good, but it is entertaining. Please don't watch this if you want a solid thriller/horror movie, because your time will be completely wasted. Don't take it seriously and embrace the unintentional humor of it, and you'll have a new favorite movie to bring to your Mystery Science Theater/RiffTrax party with your friends. Enjoy

A female novice pilot who has no business driving a car much less flying a plane, decides to take the most unlikeable group of friends on a plane ride for reasons really unknown. Her mom died on a plane, so I guess she wanted to die too or something. her friends include the most annoying jock character written, a undeveloped boyfriend character (a most important character by the end for some random reason), a love lost emo and a shallow best friend. They end up in a mysterious cloud, things happen that really don't make sense and the ending you see coming a mile away. The main girl is a raging c-word to her pointless boyfriend (apparently this is a important plot point?). These kids sans the boyfriend remind you of the popular kids you hated in high school. The positives reviews Have to be plants from the industry. Avoid this film, the premise is awful and you end up wanting whatever it is in the cloud to eat them faster. Note to writers of these films, stop writing for the twilight, jersey shore crowd and make the characters quasi likable so the viewer can be emotionally invested, I was more sympathetic to whatever was in the clouds than these people.